Luck Announces 2013 Rowing Slate

By Brian Kuppelweiser

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February 12, 2013 01:38 PM

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Director of Athletics has announced the 2013 spring rowing schedule.

“Coach Jimmy King has done a fantastic job in creating a schedule that will challenge, as well as develop, his squad,” Luck says. “This is the beginning of a new era for the rowing program, and I am looking forward to watching them excel.”

The schedule features six regattas, including trips to Kansas, Alabama and Tennessee twice, and retains just one event from the 2012 season.

“We are excited about the challenges that lie ahead of us in the Big 12 Conference,” says coach Jimmy King. “Additionally, along with the other Big 12 rowing schools, we are affiliate members of Conference USA for NCAA selection purposes. To better prepare our crews for the Big 12 and Conference USA championships, our racing schedule has been significantly revamped; in fact, only one competition from last season--the Knecht Cup Regatta--remains on the 2013 schedule.”

The Mountaineers begin their 2013 season on March 16-17, as they travel to Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational hosted by the Louisville. The Invitational will feature 11 schools competing twice on Saturday and once on Sunday in tri-races.

WVU returns to the water on April 6, as it travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a tri-meet against Alabama and Central Florida.

“In between these two events, we are finalizing plans for an additional competition in conjunction with our spring training trip,” King says. “These events will help span the gap in competition during that time period.”

The lone event from last year’s schedule that remains will take place on April 13-14, as the Mountaineers head to the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, N.J., for the Knecht Cup Regatta.

“The Knecht Cup is a large mid-season regatta that has become a constant on our spring schedule,” King says. “Last season, over two dozen division I women’s programs competed. In total, 69 men’s and women’s programs competed.”

On April 27, WVU competes in its final regular season regatta, as it takes on Bucknell, Connecticut and Delaware in a double dual regatta in Lewisberry, Pa., on Pinchot Lake in Pinchot State Park.

The Mountaineers compete in its first of two conference championship regattas on May 4, when they head to the Big 12 Championship on Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City.

Two weeks later, WVU concludes its season, as it takes a second trip to Tennessee for the Conference USA Championship held on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“The level of competition we'll face this season, from beginning to end, is certainly greater than in years past,” King says. “We'll have to carefully balance our desire to perform well throughout the regular season with our preparation for the championship regattas.”